


First Day

by DemonzDust



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Co-Captains - Freeform, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Jackson Whittemore Appreciation Week, M/M, Pack Feels, teen wolf legacy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-19
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2019-07-14 13:02:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16041002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemonzDust/pseuds/DemonzDust
Summary: Jackson returns to Beacon Hills for his senior year ready to prove he’s still relevant.





	First Day

**Author's Note:**

> A/N - I wrote this _super_ fast for Jackson Whittemore Appreciation Week. It somehow felt easier than fixing up one of my older work-in-progress fics. 
> 
> I want to dedicate it to my RP partner, Preston. Because if it weren’t for him, I might not have ever discovered my love for this ship.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Jackson woke at the crack of dawn. 

The buzz of his alarm sounded just as the first rays of sunlight crept in through his blinds. He was out of bed in an instant, and ready for his morning jog before his parents had the chance to snooze their own alarms from their room down the hall.

It was a brisk early morning. The kind that he used to look forward to after the disgustingly humid California summer. All of the sights and scents were eerily familiar, although they seemed to be from another lifetime. 

Junior year in London had been what Jackson’s adoptive father liked to call a “character-building” experience. Long, difficult, anxiety-inducing, and lonely. He’d been able to keep swimming but had to give up lacrosse for rugby. If that weren’t bad enough, he also had and make new connections in a school where he knew absolutely no one.

He didn’t keep in touch with Lydia outside casually checking her social media accounts every so often. He still cared about her, but their relationship was fucked. He didn’t want to go back to it, and since they lived thousands of miles apart there wasn’t much point in putting in the effort to build up a friendship. 

Or at least, so he’d thought. 

He’s had no way of knowing back then that a change in his father’s job would have him back in Beacon Hills for senior year. If he had, he might have tried to keep in touch a little harder.

Danny and Derek were the only people he bothered to keep in touch with. Derek for the occasional bit of werewolf advice, and Dan….well, just because he was Dan.

It was through Derek that Jackson first learned that Scott McCall had become a True Alpha. He hadn’t asked how McCall had been or what he’d been doing, but Derek mentioned it in passing. 

Upon hearing the news he’d promptly told Derek that he didn’t care, hung up the phone, and then put his fist through the nearest wall.

He’d really thought he’d gotten an edge in London. A true werewolf at last, he’d put most of his effort into mastering his new abilities. He’d learned to fight, he’d learned how to push his shift to the fullest extent, and he’d learned how to draw it back.

He’d already known that it was stupid and pointless to still compare himself to Scott, but that didn’t stop his never-satisfied mind from turning his thoughts back to him.

Was he faster than McCall now? Was he stronger?

The moment he’d heard that news from Derek he realized that the answer to both, was always going to be  _ no _ .

It shouldn’t matter to him. But it did. 

If a stick by which he could be measured existed, his restless mind would go back to it again and again and  _ again _ .

Scott McCall with his derpy crooked jaw and dumbass smiling face, who’d one day just stepped into power he hadn’t earned and didn’t know what to do with - would always be one step ahead of him.

True Alpha was the final nail in the coffin.

Despite his ongoing challenges, he still struggled to remember that being a werewolf was more of a curse than a gift. 

He tried to remind himself that Scott had done everything possible to try to help him. When it came down to it, Scott and Lydia were the only ones there to help him when the kanima had all but consumed him.

But logic didn’t do him any good when he was staring up at his dark ceiling at quarter past four in the morning, fingering the place on his hip that Derek had bitten him, wondering why, from the moment Scott made his first brilliant goal at sophomore tryouts, he could never manage to measure up.

Now he was going to have to face Scott again. He was going to have to look him in the eyes and know that they were still miles apart in terms of what they could achieve.

But worse, he had to face him knowing that he owed him not only his life - but his freedom.

Had Scott been even just a little bit less diligent back then, he would have been dead or consumed by Gerard’s will.

He made it back to his house with more than enough time to shower and get to school.

He worked himself up every second of the drive into the sickeningly familiar parking lot.

He was about to see everyone for the first time in more than a year. He’d step in the door not the lacrosse captain or a straight-A student, but a senior with absolutely zero credit to his name aside from passed accolades.

Oh and the two hundred and fifty thousand dollar  _ Ferrari _ .

He let the car run in the parking lot for a moment in the parking lot. Closed his eyes and tried to let the purr of the engine soothe the holes of doubt that were growing in him faster than he could stopper.

He would just have to show them. He would prove by the end of the day that he was still relevant. That he mattered. That he deserved their attention.

He revved the engine loudly. Watched in the rear-view mirror as two juniors behind him coughed in the dust of the exhaust.

“Hey  _ dick _ -” the shorter of the pair moved towards the front of the car.

“Liam, forget it.” his friend, a tall man with pierced ears, grabbed him by the elbow. “And just be happy your ego isn’t that fragile.”

Pff. Fragile ego? Him?

Jackson watched as the pair made their way into the school, and noticed a lacrosse stick protruding to the angry one’s backpack.

Perfect. He could get even with at least one of them later.

Steeling himself to finally face his old classmates, he kills the engine and heads into the school.

It’s not even a split second after Jackson pushes passed the blue double doors, that he sees him.

He stops dead in his tracks.

Scott looked.... _ different _ .

Gone was the boy with floppy bangs in his eyes and a lopsided grin. In his place stood someone that was practically a man. Tall. Wiry. Two thick dark bands hugging the dense curve of his bicep. Short dark hair curled in a way that was familiar but more commanding than Jackson had remembered. The features in his face had sharpened so that when the light hit them, his caramel skin glowed and shadowed in all of the right places.

Jackson fought the urge to tug at his collar as heat started to ripple up his neck. 

He’d found out a lot about himself in the past year. And he could no longer pretend that the feeling running through his body was rage. 

The wolf almost immediately knew he was being watched, and turned to face him. Jackson sucked in a quick breath as their eyes met.

Scott’s dark irises were still lit with the warm compassion that had always been there, but now they were tempered with a kind of wisdom that could only come from facing challenge and loss. This compassion didn’t come from ignorance or purity. 

His entire body hummed with a power that was anything but accidental. His gaze reflected strength of a man whose ideals had been tested and the power that surged in his muscles was certainly earned. 

Jackson’s mouth went dry as Scott approached him.

He’d prepared a number of things to say to let Scott know what kind of footing they would be on with one another, but none of them felt right anymore. He suddenly wasn’t sure what he wanted their footing to be.

“Hey.” Scott said, his voice familiar but with a new gravitas and maturity. “I heard you were coming back.”

_ From who? _ Jackson wants to ask, but before he knows it his mouth is reverting back to it’s old trademark strategy of never playing defense.

“Well, when I heard about the team handing game after game to Devenford I basically had to.” he quipped. “I couldn’t let you run the Cyclones into the ground, could I?”

Scott grinned, thankfully reading some of the playfulness that Jackson had intended to put in the harsh statement. 

It’s pleasant for a moment, to pretend that lacrosse rivalry is still the most pressing and serious threat that plagues their lives. And they’re both aware of it.

“Good.” Scott almost chuckled, and clapped Jackson on the arm. “I guess I’ll see you at tryouts?”

Jackson swallowed.

That was it. Scott wasn’t going to treat him like an outsider or make him pay penance for his past sins. He wasn’t going to hold everything he’d done for Jackson over his head or brandish it at him like a weapon.

He was just going to hand him a blank slate.

“Yup.” Jackson said with a smirk. “Get ready for coach to put a ‘co’ back in your title.”

“Oh, I’m stepping down.” Scott admitted with a sigh. “Got to focus on academics this year.”

_ No. _ Jackson felt like the world had come to a dramatic hault. 

_ No. No. No. No. NO! _

“Are you serious?” he demanded “I walk in the door and you’re just going to _ hand  _ it to me?”

He couldn’t explain why but he was suddenly furious. He pushed Scott’s hand (that was still lingering pleasantly) off his arm roughly. 

“You had better reconsider that.” He glowered. “I didn’t come back here to be captain of the lacrosse team and have everyone say I only got the position because _ you _ stepped down.”

Scott looked taken aback, and to be honest, Jackson was a bit taken aback by himself.

He didn’t care about sports as much as he once had. The fact that he’d sold his soul and handed control of his body over to another just to be better at it had put more than a damper on his passion for them. Wrestling with guilt was now his most practiced sport.

But there was something about standing next to Scott, in these old halls, that burns off all of the memories of London and the cold of isolation.

Scott considered him for a moment.

“You’re...serious.” Scott observed, aloud.

A playful grin lit his features.

“If I take you up on that challenge - you know I won’t go easy on you?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

There was something in Scott’s face that was deeper than meer amusement, like something was melting off him as well.

Jackson took that as an invitation to step closer, so he was practically breathing into Scott’s face.

“You had better not.”

“Okay, you’re on.” Scott nodded, his grin deepening. “What’s your first class?”

“English.”

“Same.”

With that Scott turned, and moved towards a classroom. Jackson found himself stepping in stride with him, following his movements in a way that felt far more natural than they had any right to.

He was looking forward to practice, like he hadn’t since he couldn't even remember how long.

He didn’t care what he had to do to keep Scott fully engaged on the field. If he had to help him study so that his grades didn’t fall, he would.

He could feel an warmth starting to spread through his limbs as he moved closer behind Scott, and as he watched him slide into a seat beside him, there was only one word that filled his mind.

_ Alpha. _

**Author's Note:**

> Well hopefully there weren't too many typos. x3
> 
> Thoughts/feedback always welcome! =D
> 
> I do take requests and/or plot ideas, so please feel free to comment here or send me an Ask on [my Tumblr](https://demonzdust.tumblr.com/ask)
> 
> **More Jackson fics by me:**  
> [Haunted](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16024058)  
> [I'll Spot For You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7088092)
> 
> **More Teen Wolf fics by me:**  
> [The Call](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11857773/chapters/26771910)  
> [The Road After Trilogy](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14330802/chapters/33070752)  
> [What Should Have Been Ours](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9862829/chapters/22131167)  
> [Adoption](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7802056%0A%20rel=)


End file.
